Colchester Triumph 1958 Restoration

[Kennlindeman]

Hi Holt
It was quite a journey to get to work. The student does not have a very big gearbox and I wanted to have a one to one pulley ratio. The other problem was there was not place to put a tensioner in. While looking for pulleys in a friends workshop I can across this strange pulley which was adjustable by turning the side of the pulley in and out. I knew one pulley would not be enough and shopped around but could not buy another one in South Africa. Then another friend found me one at a boot sale. The is quite a bit of space between the pulleys when put next to each other. I solved this my putting a 3 groove pulley on the spindle. The next problem was the part of the gearbox casting where the selectors are was in the way. A small angle grinder and a lot of bad language sorted that out. There also a part of the casting under the gears for lubricating which need to be cut out.

Although it looks like the gearbox has not oil in it, it does have oil in it. On the left you have the gears for the feed. Lucky this area is in a little box which is lower that the main area. So I lubricate the bearing/bushes normal thought there oil nipples and the surplus oil drains off to the feed gears box/sump. Once a month I open the top cover just to check the lever as you don't want the lever to high as the the belts will get oil on them a slip. I am going to drill a hole into the gearbox casing as the level i want and then surplus oil can drain out into a bottle and the be emptied as necessary.

It works very nicely and is very quite. There is one problem, at lower speeds the torque is very low and if drilling with large drill the motor does stop it you not careful. I am going to charge the motor pulley size to see if I can reduce this problem. I did fit a digital rev counter to the back of the spindle which does help to quickly see the speed you running.

A quick change tool post is a must. But you will find that you will need a lot of the tool holders. I am nearly finished making 12 new ones to add to the 6 I already have. The same type are yours.

 

[ChuckB]

Nice thread with plenty of pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[FOMOGO]

Thanks for the tour of all the progress on your lathe. Like most things in the shop, they always seem to be a work in progress, but that's become ok with me. Mike

 

[Holt]

I have a 7mm thick shim under the cube, here will be made tapered holes for the locking pin, four holes for zero, 90, 180 and 270 degrees, on the two opposite sides, there will be holes made at 30 and 60 degrees, and the two other sites, 45 degree holes will be made.
If I had to make all the holes on each side, they would interfere with each other

Well tonight I got the holes made for the indexing of the cube, now I have to get the shim attached to the cube in exactly the right place.
I will start by truing the compound to the cross slide, then make some sort of temporary index of the cube, remove the cube, and glue it to the shim, so i can drill some holes for dowel pins in the right place.



The mill is grinded with the same angle as the dowel pin on the compound for a good tight fit



I used this program to find the location of the holes. http://littlemachineshop.com/mobile/bolt_circle.php

 

[Holt]

Thanks for the tour of all the progress on your lathe. Like most things in the shop, they always seem to be a work in progress, but that's become ok with me. Mike

I have been writing on a couple of other fora, but this is the first one I have found, where it's more about the machines themsels than what you make on them, I really enjoy bringing those pieces of old iron back to a touch of their former glory.

 

[Kroll]

Love reading your post and providing the pics which helps me understand what's going on.Seeing your projects is on the professional level which serves as a learning source for me and others.Thank you for posting----kroll

 

[ARM]

Holt
Your experience and quality workmanship clearly shows
Fantastic reading and watching Your progressive restoration build
Would be nice to pick Your brains when we have similar technical problems 'cos U will just about have the right answers
Keep the pics rolling
aRM

 

[AlxJ64]

Holt! Thank you so much for sharing all of this! I am actually going to look at a 7 1/2 this coming weekend and am trying to figure out how to move it. It is buried in the back of a shop and I want to try and snake it out. I was wondering you could could provide some footing dimensions of yours so I can try and assemble a Pallet ahead of time.

I was wondering if you could provide the width and length of the footing under the headstock and then again the dimensions of the footing under the tailstock, along with the clear distance between the two footings? Any help would be great. The machine is a long drive away from me and the seller is rather vague and not much help on the technical aspect of things.

Thanks!

 

[Holt]

Holt! Thank you so much for sharing all of this! I am actually going to look at a 7 1/2 this coming weekend and am trying to figure out how to move it. It is buried in the back of a shop and I want to try and snake it out. I was wondering you could could provide some footing dimensions of yours so I can try and assemble a Pallet ahead of time.

I was wondering if you could provide the width and length of the footing under the headstock and then again the dimensions of the footing under the tailstock, along with the clear distance between the two footings? Any help would be great. The machine is a long drive away from me and the seller is rather vague and not much help on the technical aspect of things.

Thanks!

Congratulation on your find, I'm sure you will love it as much as I love mine.
Skates is the way to move loads like that in tight spaces.
Just made a quick sketch, notice the chip pan is sticking out at the front and both ends, all measurements are in cm

 

[AlxJ64]

Thank you so much for that information and that drawing! It was very useful in determining my layout for a pallet to build to get two hand trucks under it so I can move and transport the machine. Going to lay my hands on it tomorrow morning and hopefully can come to an agreeable terms with the seller. People say that the heads are noisy on these machines... how much noise is noisy? And where is the line between normal and something is wrong? Can a normal conversation be had without yelling while the machine is running? Its it a whirring like a fan noise, or is it a gear whine they are known for? This one is under power currently so I plan on chalking the belts and running it just to check that initally and also am bringing some 2" round stock with me to chuck up and check the bearings for any "clunk". The bearings are tapered and can be adjusted similar to a trailer spindle correct? How is the gear head cover removed to check for any bluing of the gears? Tools required? If so do you know what sizes?

Many thanks for all of your help on this. Fingers crossed that things work out well and I can buy the machine as it should be perfect for my needs... small enough for my home shop but enough HP and through bore to handle the size stock I need to machine these days, especially in comparison to my Atlas 12" with only a 3/4" through bore and square non-hardened ways.